The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1887-08-19
FIXING THE BLAME.

The Disaster at Chatsworth, ILL.,. Due 70
Gross CareIessness- Section Boss Cough
Inns Blunder - Disobeying Instructions.
He Set the Fires That Burned the
Bridge The Coroners Jury Hold Him
Responsible.
CHATswoRTH, Ill, Aug. II. Timothy
Coughlin seems to be the guilty man. Two
witnesses before the coroner's Jury yester-
day afternoon fatty contradicted his testi
mony at material points Coughlin has all
along denied that he fred any grass or
rubbish within twenty rods of the
bridge. Yesterdays evidence fixed the
distance at sixteen feet. Cough
lin was instructed to exercise extra
care because heavy train would pass over
the road late that night In the face of this
he ordered James Head to fire the grass and
q pile OF weeds within rod of the cuIvert
James Taggart, the other witness. fired the
grass within 100 feet of the bridge and
east OF 1t. Heald swore positively that
ne started fire on the south side of
the track within sixteen feet of the west
end of the bridge. He testified that the
wind was blowing from the southwest The
wind blew directly from the grass or wind.
row of dry weeds toward the bridge The
witness swore that every thing was very
dry. When the workmen left the vicinity
of the bridge the fires were still burning.
This young mans evidence put Timothy
Coughlin, the section foreman, III very
deep hole. Mr.. Coughlin testified also that
one of the men examined the bridge at
$50 o'clock Wednesday evening. Both
witnesses contradicted him
The evidence elected the fact also that a
number of persons at Piper City and farm
ers near the culvert saw it burning during
the night of the disaster, but that fires
along the railroad track were matters of
such common occurrence that they paid no
attention to this one. The fire burned
tiercely and blazed high in the air. yet of
the scores of people who saw it no one
thought of the bridge
Mr.. J. S. Stevens, the general solicitor and
attorney for the Toledo, Peoria & Western
Railroad Company, said last evening that
the evidence before the coroner fixed the
blame on Timothy Coughlin 1.-The testi-
mony clearly shows that the section boss
was to blame" he said Coroner Long is of
the same opinion Coughlin was instructed
by Roadmaster Ennis by telegram, sent in
the forenoon and received by the fore
man at noon, to go over the entire
length OF his section and see that it was all
right. The testimony showed that he did
not go near the west end of his section dur
ing the day. That evidence was introduced
to show that if Coughlin would violate his
instructions in one particular he would in
another. In the face of his instructions he
set fire near the burned bridge and then did
not look after it
The coroner's jury held a secret confer
ence of an hour and half last evening 1t
agreed that the afternoons evidence fixed
the immediate blame on Foreman Coughlin,
and decided to hear no more evidence The
jury was divided, however, on the question
of censuring the company The jury will
meet at eight o'clock this morning and
agree upon verdict
PEORIA Ill, Aug. 17.-At the hearing be-
FIRE the State Railroad Commissioners re-
g'uding the recent disaster near Chatsworth
yesterday important evidence was present.
ed tending to show that superintendent
Armstrong had ordered special precautions
to insure the safety of the train, but they
had not been taken.